Senior Business Analyst, Product Information

Work Location Type: Hybrid 

As a leading industrial distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom, We Keep The World Working® by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. With 2023 sales of $16.5 billion, we’re dedicated to providing value for customers, fostering an engaging culture for team members and driving strong financial results.

Our welcoming workplace enables you to learn, grow and make a difference by keeping businesses running and their people safe. As a 2024 Glassdoor Best Place to Work and a Great Place to Work-Certified™ company, we’re looking for passionate people to join our team as we continue leading the industry over our next 100 years.

Position Details:

This Sr. Analyst will be responsible for partnering directly with our technology and business partners to streamline software functionality, improve customer experiences and successfully deliver an improved operating model. The tools this lead will focus on play a key role in helping determine which products we sell, how we organize these products to show their value, and which product information we need to help customers choose efficiently and confidently. This role will engage with all aspects of this revenue driving business process at Grainger, governing our key information flows and cross-functional handoffs. The Sr. Analyst will partner within Merchandising Content and Search, Supplier Management, Merchandising Strategy & Compliance teams for discovery and change management activities. This role will oversee software user education and support, functionality change management, and sprint release management for a suite of proprietary software modules serving different Product Information user groups and business functions.

Using software development and continuous improvement best practices and methodologies, this lead will ensure our software changes are driven by clear understanding of our operation, focusing on improving outcomes and supported by clear communication with stakeholders. This Sr. Business Analyst will ensure our software work follows established Product Information goals, project plans and clear timelines but with the agility to respond to organizational needs.

You will report to the Senior Manager, Product Information Governance.

This is a hybrid position based onsite in Lake Forest or Chicago, IL 3 days a week.

You Will:

• Understand fully the end-to-end processes that support the Product Information teams’ day to day operations including technologies, hand-offs and customer outcomes
• Based on input from Sr. Manager and PI Leadership, develop action plans for improvement
• Create communications for key business partners to explain current state and continuous improvement activities
• Identify opportunities to reduce product information errors through root cause discovery, clear metrics and user story documentation
• Document processes, project plans and process improvements with consistency
• Lead software onboarding and develop and maintain standardized training materials
• Create and maintain user-facing software documentation, including frequent updates necessary for functionality changes due to sprint releases
• Oversee user testing and update technology partners with collated feedback
• Help ensure high quality of Product Information deliverables to the business
• Collaboration with Merchandising, Supplier Management, Supply Chain, GTG (Grainger Technology Group) and other teams
• Act as primary process connection between Product Information and Grainger Technology Group to drive process efficiency

You Have:

• Bachelor’s Degree in business analysis, software development or related field
• 3-5 years of experience across software optimization including software assessment, software build and software change management 
• Proven understanding of communication strategy and ability to craft clear PowerPoint and document-based stories  
• Technology experience in Product Information Management and other Product Content related systems 
• Experience supporting user teams with software development, including documenting user requirements, UI/UX considerations, sprint release management and roadmap development
• Experience creating user-facing software documentation and leading software training and onboarding
• Expert proficiency in Microsoft Office functionality, especially Excel (Macros, VBA, Pivot Tables, Lookups), Visio and PowerPoint 
• Broad business knowledge and organizational awareness as well as an understanding of business operational drivers
• Proven analytic and quantitative decision-making skills
• The ability to influence decision-making processes without having specific authority

Rewards and Benefits:

With benefits starting day one, Grainger is committed to your safety, health and wellbeing. Our programs provide choice and flexibility to meet our team members' individual needs. Check out some of the rewards available to you at Grainger

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans
• Generous paid time off (PTO) and 6 company holidays per year
• Automatic 6% 401(k) company contribution each pay period
• Employee discounts, parental leave, 3:1 match on donations and tuition reimbursement
• A comprehensive set of emotional, financial, physical and social wellbeing programs

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible environment that includes both providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process as well as throughout the course of one’s employment.  With this in mind, should you need a reasonable accommodation during the application and selection process, please advise us so that we can provide appropriate assistance.